Best Felt for a Birthday Crown: Wool Blend, Acrylic and Thickness
The felt you choose decides how the crown looks and how long it lasts. A good pattern cannot rescue a floppy, fuzzy sheet, and a good felt makes even a simple crown look expensive. The materials list in Crown & Thimble · Felt Birthday Crown Pattern Kit explains what to buy; this guide goes further into the reasons, so you can choose with confidence.
The three kinds of felt you will find
Acrylic craft felt. The cheap, bright sheets sold in packs. It is soft and comes in many colours, but it can be thin and floppy, it tends to pill, and it does not hold a sharp point. It is fine for appliqué details and for practice.
Wool-blend felt. Typically 20 to 35 percent wool mixed with viscose or polyester. It is firmer, cuts cleanly, holds points and stitches beautifully. It costs a bit more per sheet, and one sheet goes a long way on a crown. For most people this is the best choice.
Pure wool felt. The most expensive and the nicest to handle: dense, warm and refined. It is a luxury for a keepsake crown, and it will last for decades. If you are making a first-birthday or a milestone crown you intend to keep, it is worth considering.
Thickness and stiffness
For the main body of the crown, aim for about 1 to 2 mm thick. That is stiff enough for points to stand and soft enough to stitch through by hand. Very thick felt of 3 mm or more makes a handsome crown but is hard on a beginner's fingers and tends to be heavy on a small head.
If your felt is thin, you have two remedies. Cut the front and the lining from the same felt and stitch them together, which doubles the thickness. Or add a layer of lightweight iron-on interfacing to the back of the front panel before you stitch.
Colour choices that work
- Gold and cream. Classic, photographs well, suits any appliqué.
- Dusty blue, sage, blush. Soft modern colours that look good against a neutral background.
- Bright primaries. Red, yellow, royal blue for a playful look.
- Black and gold. For an older child or an adult.
For the appliqué, choose colours that contrast with the base: light on dark or dark on light. In photographs, the contrast is what makes the design readable.
Pieces of felt versus sheets and metres
Felt is sold in small sheets (often 22 by 30 cm or 9 by 12 inches), in larger sheets and by the metre. For a single crown, sheets are enough. For several crowns, a half-metre of the base colour is more economical. For appliqué, a pack of assorted small sheets or a bag of felt offcuts gives you plenty of choice.
How much to buy
The kit's materials list gives quantities by size. As a rule of thumb for a Kid size crown:
- One sheet of the base colour for front and lining.
- Small pieces of three or four other colours for the appliqué.
- About 25 cm of flat elastic.
- A reel of thread to match.
It is wise to buy a little extra of the base colour in case you make a mistake. The felt, thread and elastic are not included in the kit.
What to skip
- Glitter felt with a sticky back. The adhesive gums up needles and scissors, and the glitter sheds on a child's face.
- Stretchy felt. It pulls the points out of shape.
- Felt with a strong smell. Some cheap felts are treated with chemicals. If it smells, choose another.
- Very fuzzy felt. It leaves lint everywhere and does not give clean edges.
Care and cleaning
Felt does not wash well. Spot clean with a damp cloth and a drop of mild soap, then let it dry flat. Keep the crown out of direct sun, which fades colours. Store flat or stuffed lightly with tissue paper so the points keep their shape.
Thread and elastic
The felt is the star, but the other two materials matter.
- Thread: all-purpose polyester for strength, or embroidery floss for decorative stitches.
- Elastic: flat, soft, 6 to 10 mm wide. Avoid round cord elastic, which digs into the skin.
Testing a felt before you commit
Before you cut your best sheet, test it. Cut a small strip and bend it: does it spring back or flop? Stitch a few stitches: does the needle glide or drag? Pull gently along the length: does it stretch? A felt that springs back, stitches smoothly and stays firm is a good candidate.
Buying online
When buying online, look at the product description for the fibre content and thickness in millimetres. Photos can mislead on colour, so order a small sample set if you need an exact match. Reviews that mention pilling or stretching are a warning.
Putting it together
With your felt in hand, the DIY felt crown guide walks through the full process, and the felt birthday crown pattern overview lists everything the kit contains. If you are making a crown for a grown-up, the adult birthday crown guide has colour suggestions.
In short
Choose wool-blend felt of about 1 to 2 mm for the base, use cheaper felt for the details, pick colours that contrast and buy a little extra. The result is a crown that holds its shape for years.
A simple shopping plan for one crown
Walk into the shop (or open the tab) with a list and you will spend less. For a Kid size Classic Points crown with the Rainbow theme, a sensible basket is: one sheet of wool-blend felt in gold or cream for the base, four small sheets of acrylic felt in red, yellow, blue and white for the arcs and cloud, a reel of thread that matches the base, a short length of flat elastic and a pack of sharp needles. That is all, and the leftovers make a second crown or a handful of ornaments.
Using offcuts and leftovers
Felt is generous with scraps. The pieces left over from cutting the front panel are exactly the right size for the small appliqué shapes, and a crown rarely needs more than a palm-sized piece of any accent colour. Keep a box of offcuts sorted by colour. When the next birthday arrives, you will often find that half of the colours you need are already there, and the next crown costs almost nothing in materials.
Matching felt to the child
A sensitive child may dislike the feel of some felts against the forehead. Choose a soft wool-blend for the lining, which is the part that touches the skin, even if the outer layer is a firmer felt. If there is any wool allergy in the family, check the fibre content and choose an all-synthetic felt for the lining.